The Adventure of the Lion's Mane

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"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"
The Adventure of the Lion's Mane by Frederic Dorr Steele 4.jpg
1926 illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele in Liberty
AuthorArthur Conan Doyle
SeriesThe Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
Publication date1926

"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (1926), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It is notable for being narrated by Holmes himself, instead of by Dr. Watson (who does not appear in the story).

Plot[]

Holmes is enjoying his retirement in Sussex when one day at the beach, he meets his friend Harold Stackhurst, the headmaster of a nearby preparatory school called The Gables. No sooner have they met than Stackhurst's science teacher, Fitzroy McPherson, staggers up to them, clearly in agony and wearing only an overcoat and trousers. As he collapses, he mutters "lion's mane", and then dies. They see welts all over his back, possibly administered by a flexible weapon of some kind, for the marks curve over his shoulder and around his ribs.

Moments later, Ian Murdoch, a mathematics teacher at The Gables, comes up behind them. He has not seen the attack and has only just arrived at the beach from the school. Holmes sees a couple of people far up the beach, but thinks they are much too far away to have had anything to do with McPherson's death. Likewise, the few fishing boats off the beach are too far out.

It emerges that Murdoch and McPherson were friends, but had not always been. Murdoch is an enigmatic fellow with an occasional bad temper. He once threw McPherson's dog through a plate-glass window, for instance. Despite this, Stackhurst is sure that the two were on good terms with each other.

McPherson had a lover; Maud Bellamy was McPherson's fiancée. A note confirming a meeting with her was found on McPherson.

Holmes looks at the lagoon formed by a recent storm that local men have been using as a bathing pond. He sees McPherson's towel lying there dry and concludes that he never went into the water. Holmes arranges to have the caves and other nooks at the foot of the cliffs searched. Nothing and no-one turns up, which is what Holmes expected would be the case.

Stackhurst and Holmes visit Miss Bellamy, to see whether she can shed any light on this perplexing mystery. Just as they are approaching The Haven, the Bellamys' house, they see Ian Murdoch emerge. Stackhurst demands to know what he was doing there, and an angry exchange ensues with Murdoch declaring that it is none of Stackhurst's business. Stackhurst loses his temper and sacks Murdoch on the spot. Murdoch then storms off to get ready to move out.

A Lion's Mane jellyfish capturing a sea gooseberry.

They visit the Bellamys and find a beautiful woman in Maud Bellamy, and two extremely unpleasant men in her father and muscular brother. Mr Bellamy and his son do not approve of the liaison between Maud and McPherson; indeed, they learn of the engagement at this meeting, so secret had been the affair. Maud says that she will help however she can. She says that Murdoch admired her. This, in turn, causes Holmes to suspect that he may be responsible for McPherson's death, out of jealousy.

Then McPherson's dog is found dead at the pool where McPherson met his end. It obviously died in agony, much as its master had. At this point, Holmes begins to suspect something else. The dead McPherson's dying words, "lion's mane", have triggered a memory, but he cannot quite place it.

Inspector Bardle of the Sussex Constabulary visits Holmes to ask if there is enough evidence to arrest Murdoch. Holmes is sure that there is not. Murdoch has an alibi. He also could not have single-handedly overcome McPherson, who was quite strong, despite having heart trouble. The two men consider McPherson's wounds. The weals looked as though they might have been administered by a hot wire mesh, or perhaps a cat o' nine tails. Holmes is poised to go back to the bathing pond to test a theory he has formed which might explain McPherson's death. As he is about to leave, Murdoch arrives, helped in by Stackhurst, who is afraid that Murdoch might be dying; he fainted twice in pain. He has the same wounds on him that McPherson had. In great agony, he passes out, but finally recovers due to his having a stronger heart than McPherson's had been.

At the bathing pond, Holmes spots the murderer: a lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), a deadly creature about which Holmes has read.[Note 1] Holmes pushes a boulder off a cliffside and crushes the creature underneath it. Murdoch is exonerated. Given his former relationship with Maud, he had helpfully acted as a go-between for her and McPherson to avoid her unfeeling father's learning of the romance, but for the same reason, did not wish to discuss it with anyone. Upon Murdock's learning of McPherson's death, he had gone to tell Maud, and then asked her if he himself could resume his previous romance with her now that McPherson was no longer alive. Maud was too heartbroken over her fiance's sudden demise to want a relationship with anyone for the time being, however, and so she had turned Murdoch down, which explained his sour mood when confronted by Stackhurst a few days earlier. Stackhurst forgives Murdoch and gives him his job back.

Narrator[]

This is one of only two stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to be narrated by Sherlock Holmes himself instead of Dr Watson. The other story is "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier".

According to Owen Dudley Edwards, the original manuscript of the story indicates that Doyle initially planned to have Holmes chronicle his own defeat. The solution to the case given by Holmes in the final version was originally provided by a naturalist called Dr Mordhouse. This aspect was ultimately removed and Dr Mordhouse does not appear in the final version.[2]

Publication history[]

"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" was first published in the US in Liberty in November 1926, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in December 1926.[3] The story was published with seven illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Liberty, and with three illustrations by Howard K. Elcock in the Strand.[4] It was included in the short story collection The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,[4] which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.[5]

A facsimile of the original manuscript was published in 1992 by Westminster Libraries and The Sherlock Holmes Society of London.[6]

Adaptations[]

Radio[]

The story was adapted by Edith Meiser in 1931 as an episode of the American radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episode aired on 23 March 1931, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.[7] Another dramatisation of the story adapted by Meiser aired on 1 August 1936 (with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson).[8]

Meiser also adapted the story as episodes of the American radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that aired on 13 November 1939 and 25 January 1942 (with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson).[9] In an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" that aired on 21 April 1947, Tom Conway played Holmes with Bruce as Watson.[10]

A radio adaptation of the story aired in 1969 on BBC Radio 2, as part of the 1952–1969 radio series starring Carleton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr Watson. It was dramatised by Michael Hardwick.[11]

"The Lion's Mane" was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 1994 by Bert Coules as part of the 1989–1998 radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson.[12]

In 2009, the story was adapted for radio as part of The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a series on the American radio show Imagination Theatre, starring John Patrick Lowrie as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson.[13]

Television[]

"The Lion's Mane" was indirectly referenced in the BBC adaptation Sherlock in "The Six Thatchers", where Sherlock and John, while solving cases, jokingly comment on the stupidity of arresting a jellyfish. In the CBS adaptation Elementary, in the introduction of The Geek Interpreter, Sherlock briefly reports solving the 1926 cold case death of Fitzroy McPherson, identifying the Lion's Mane jellyfish as the culprit.

Notes[]

  1. ^ In regards to the Lion’s Mane jellyfish, Conan Doyle has Holmes mention identification of this creature by citing the book Out of Doors by John George Wood,[1] who had a near death experience encounter with the Lion’s Mane jellyfish.

References[]

  1. ^ Wood, John George (1874). Out of Doors. Longmans, Greene and Company.
  2. ^ Edwards, Owen Dudley (1998). Winks, Robin W. (ed.). "Mystery and Suspense Writers: The Literature of Crime, Detection, and Espionage". Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 323. ISBN 978-0684805191.
  3. ^ Smith 2014, p. 219
  4. ^ a b Cawthorne 2011, p. 162
  5. ^ Cawthorne 2011, p. 151
  6. ^ Klinger, Leslie S., ed. (2005). The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Vol. II. W W Norton. p. 1667. ISBN 0-393-05916-2.
  7. ^ Dickerson 2019, p. 28
  8. ^ Dickerson 2019, p. 75
  9. ^ Dickerson 2019, pp. 88, 104
  10. ^ Dickerson 2019, p. 227
  11. ^ De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes. Bramhall House. p. 392. ISBN 0-517-217597.
  12. ^ Coules, Bert. "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes". The BBC complete audio Sherlock Holmes. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  13. ^ Wright, Stewart (30 April 2019). "The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log" (PDF). Old-Time Radio. Retrieved 9 June 2020.

Sources[]

  • Cawthorne, Nigel (2011). A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes. Running Press. ISBN 978-0762444083.
  • Dickerson, Ian (2019). Sherlock Holmes and His Adventures on American Radio. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1629335087.
  • Smith, Daniel (2014) [2009]. The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide (Updated ed.). Aurum Press. ISBN 978-1-78131-404-3.
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